By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take (Nehemiah 9:12).
May 2018. Packing and frequent transitions were a normal part of my life as an MK (Missionary Kid), but it’s different now that I’m an adult. Just the thought of moving makes me tired. I have two daughters in transition right now. I don’t envy them. Moving is disruptive, time-consuming, and unsettling to one’s little routines.
So I try to imagine being an Israelite housewife wandering in the desert. When the cloud or the fire moves, I have to pack up everything I own and get back on the trek. When it stays put, I get to stay a little longer in my tent. The pillar can move at any time and I have to trust God for His perfect timing. And maybe I have little kids who need routine and naps and bedtimes on schedule, and maybe I’m about to give birth to Number Six. But God says I must be flexible enough to pack up all my possessions at a moment’s notice and move on. You almost don’t want to unpack because you may only be at this location for 24 hours . . . or 24 days. You just don’t know. At least my daughters know their destinations and plan to stay there for a while.
Scott and I recently visited Solomon’s Pillars and copper mines in the desert at Timnah Park, Israel
I, personally, would have found this situation most unsettling! I wonder how long it took for the entire camp to start moving? After marching all day, could the Levites set up the tabernacle in just a few hours—with circus-tent efficiency? Up one day, down the next. What a life!
We visited a full-size replica of the wilderness tabernacle in Timna Park
But they knew that there was a goal at the end of their trek—a land ahead, promised for them, a good land, flowing with milk and honey.
I can’t wait for the day when I reach Canaan Land—when I have a permanent residence in heaven. No more packing and unpacking, no more moving, no more good-byes. No more temporary storing of worldly goods or worrying about breakage because things didn’t get packed securely enough for the moving truck. No more decisions about what to keep and what to throw or give away. I get to leave the worldly stuff all behind because I won’t need it anymore. Everything I need—all my real treasures—will already be there, waiting for me.
How do YOU feel about moving?
In the Pursuit of Peace 
I don’t mind moving if it’s to a specific place. I hate moving when I have only to pack up and then… nowhere to call home. I would find it difficult to be an Israelite just waiting to make it to Canaan, not knowing how much longer I’d be stuck in the desert. If there was an oasis or water, I’d probably never want to leave. I’m one of the “little kids” who likes routine, a place I can call home, and come back to when I go away. At the same time I’m aware where I sit today is not permanent; I may move closer to my kids, or my hubby might decide we need to live somewhere else in the world. At the moment — for however long that moment is — I’m supremely content with my little piece of the Oregon Coast.
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